Tings are falling apart in the final volume of Pullman's latest trilogy, the next of Philip Pullman's masterful trilogies set in a world that seems, now more than ever, as a energized and tilted version of our own. Institutions are failing, or reassembling themselves along new and disquieting lines. An unseen force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Control is draining from states, and gathering in the chambers of religious leaders, the vaults of conglomerates, the hands of mobs. "Some force is at work, stealthily, very subtly", says trader Mustafa Bey, keeping a watchful eye on the trade routes from his place in an Aleppo cafe. "Elements we thought were firm and solid are deteriorating and failing."
The Central Mystery and Lyra's Journey
Precisely what that force might be, and ways to oppose it, is the mystery that propels The Rose Field, which picks up where The Secret Commonwealth left off. This is, according to many, Pullman's concluding foray into the intricately constructed, endlessly enchanting realm he first unveiled in the distant past, with the launch of His Dark Materials. It's a realm whose landscape maps on to that of the real world, but whose chronicles tacks and jibes with ours; where the humans look and reason and act like us, but are joined by daemons, essences in animal form; where the heavens are filled with sorceresses and legendary creatures, but below, transports are taken and beverages is sipped, and middle-aged academics carry luxury shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first encountered as a child in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then met once more as a toddler in the prequel, the origin story with which the author began this trilogy, is now a adult: still recognisably the sharp and determined heroine of the prior volumes, but aged, sadder, more careful, less sure. This restraint is heightened by her division from her daemon, her daemon – but it was also, unexpectedly, the cause which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
Pan's decision to go off in pursuit of that youthful part of Lyra which she may have forgotten (an aspect which he epitomises as her "creativity"), and her mission to rejoin with him, were the catalysts of The Secret Commonwealth, which chronicled the protagonist undertake a adventurous journey across the continent and into the mountain region, encountering with wonder and risk on the way. But from the beginning, underlying forces were in play, and malevolent elements at work. The religious council – the faith's governing authority, and Pullman's brilliantly sinister incarnation of austere, bureaucratic wickedness – is under fresh command, and showing its strength. Lyra's uncle – Lyra's family member, who holds responsible her for his family member's death – has positioned himself into the position of president of the church's ruling assembly, and is intent on using his recently acquired influence to extend the institution's control. Malcolm Polstead, who saved infant Lyra to refuge along a overflowing Thames as an child in the first book, is now an Oxford don with a additional duty in spycraft: he is sent to a key location to find out more about the antagonist's intentions. And behind all of this is the enigma surrounding the uncommon and costly rose oil which manifests somehow to be the origin of a societal and financial crisis rippling out from Central Asia. The extract is seen by some as a commercial commodity, by alternate groups as a scientific or mystical wonder, and by further factions – the zealous "mountain dwellers" – as a wellspring of darkness; an affront that must be eradicated. The issue of its origins, what it stands for, and whether it should be destroyed or preserved is coming rapidly to the fore.
Like His Dark Materials, Lyra's deeds, and her fate, are demonstrated to be inseparably linked with the future of the world
In its predecessor, these plots ran mostly in parallel. In this final book, they come together. Similar to His Dark Materials, her actions and her path are shown to be inseparably entwined with the destiny of the realm. Her private mission to reunite with her soul and recover her vision becomes the primary conflict in a larger war with an oppressive government which, as such regimes typically do, is seeking to quell freedom of thought, innovation and art: all the inner, rebellious ways in which people can be independent.
Dimensional Rifts and Moral Battles
The story opens with the finding of a set of unusual fissures in the structure of the world's sky: portals that appear to give on to different dimensions. An example of a window manifests to be the source of the highly contested botanical substance. The Magisterium, with its leader at its helm, designates these windows as a challenge to the religion's orthodoxy and sets out to destroy them. As Lyra begins to move from rigid logic and return to intuition, nevertheless, her certainty that these locations must be protected – that their meaning and what they offer is somehow vital – grows. "The substance, or the substance, or the vision, or the field of roses, or no matter what we call it," she says, "it is necessary." The stage for a philosophical tussle between purity and knowledge is prepared.
Narrative Pacing and Personal Evolution
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
